The Regional Center Program was created by Section 610 of Public Law 102-395 on October 6, 1992 and has been in effect ever since. Regional Centers are a service agent organization for investors and companies who want to complete a project under the EB-5 program. Regional Centers are legal entities that enable foreign nationals to qualify for permanent residence in the U.S. through their investment in a regional center sponsored project and are designated by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). In order to be approved for permanent residence, an EB-5 Project must create at least ten full-time jobs per investor. These jobs can be direct, indirect, or induced under the regional center model.

How do they work?

A regional center represents one of the two ways that an investor can obtain an EB-5 visa and gain permanent residence in the United States. Regional centers use the loan model for investments. Through this model, an investor will an equity investment in a new commercial enterprise (NCE). The NCE will then loan the money to the job creating entity (JCE). In this model, investors do not need to be involved in the day-to-day management of the JCE, as such, their role becomes much more passive. A majority of investors will choose this investment model as opposed to the direct investment model.

• Direct Jobs: These are full-time jobs that are created directly by the project and are included in the project’s expenditures. An example of this would be hiring employees for the business.
• Indirect Jobs: These are jobs that are created as an effect of a new project outside of the job-creating entity.  These jobs are created by other businesses in order to fill a new demand and economic growth that the new project has generated.
• Induced Jobs: These are jobs that are created as a result of the expenditures of the employees of the new project. While indirect jobs support the new business, induced jobs relate to increased expenditures made by direct and indirect employees.